The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1887-06-23
LARGEST VINEYARD ON EARTH.
What Irrigation Has Done on a Naked
Plain.
Chico, Cal, ENTERPRISE.

There has been a great deal writ
ten about Senator Stanford's i'm
mense ranch at Vina, but the only
way to get an adequate idea Of it is
to pay the place visit This an
Enterprise reporter did a few days
ago. Stauford's ranch begins at the
Tahama County line, and the first
view one gets of his land is not pre-.
possessing. 1t is nothing but bar
rem, treeless plain, where the bedrock
crops out in spots and everywhere
lies but few but beneath the surface.
Nothing will grow here except
short, dry weed, but the sheep like
this weed, the plain is therefore one
vast sheep range, for Senator
Stanford is man Of varied re-
sources, and manages to find use
for all the land he owns.
AS you approach Vina the aspect
Of the country suddenly changes,
ard you jump from sunburned plains
Into the midst of green alfalfa fields
and vineyards. The former are made
productive by frequent flooding from
irrigating bitches. This flooding is
good for the soil, but bad for health,
and if it makes alfalfa, it also makes
malaria. The water is broaght in
bitches to Deer Creek and turned in
to the fields Until it stands in a vast
lake. AS soon as one crop of alfalfa
is cut, another is raised in this way,
all the year r~"nd. It is used very
extensively for stock, in the place Of
hay.
But the vineyard is the wonderful
feature Of The Stanford ranch. 1t ex-
tends for several miles up and down
on each side Of the road as you ap-
proach Vina, and back from the
road as far as the eye can reach. In
some places the vines are large, in
others they have just been set out,
and in the latter case they are sup
ported by an army Of stakes. This
vineyard contains $500 acres, and is
the largest in the world, but still the
Senator is not satisfied, and pro-
poses to have 5000 acres. More
=, vines are being set out every year.
The pretliest sight of all are the old
Greek vines which form the nucleus
of Senator Stanford's vineyard.
These vines are all old and stand
fully FIVE feet high. The trunks are
larger than a mans arm. The
branches are trimmed off at the bot.
tom and allowed to grow out at the
top, until the vineyard looks like an
orchard Of young peach trees, and
they are all prunned off so evenly
that they make one level floor Of
green as the eye glances across
them.
The vines already require the at.
tentlon Of several hundred men, to
take care of the grapes they produce
and will take small army Of men to
attend the crop each year when all
the vines get to bearing. The winery
already in use on the ranch is large
building, but now Senator Stanford
is having brick structure erected
which covers two acres. The walls
are already up, and 40 pillars are
being erected, to support the roof.
The building is to hold the wine yats
and casks, and is a sort of mammoth
proportions, but so is the vineyard,
and so will the crop of grapes be.
One could talk about the vineyard
and winery all day, but there are
other things to be mentioned. Next
to his vines, in Senator Stanford S
esteem, come his fine horses. OF
these there are large bands to be
seen, all beauties and Of the best
blood. The Senator makes a spec.
ialty of raising fast horses, which he
sells for fancy figures. Every ami.
NAL is spirited, beautifully proper
toned and looks sleek and smooth.
The two stations to which be breeds
all his mares are Clay and Whips.
The former the Senator values at
$4,000. Clay is rather small,
brown horse, kind and gentle in dis
position. Whips is fine large bay,
full of life and beautifully built. In
fact, the Senator considers Whips the
ideal of horsefesh and beyond price.
The animal was expected to make
very fast time, but was lamed in his
early training at Palo Alto, and
hence is used only for breeding pur'
poses. Several horses have been
lamed lately on the Palo Alto track,
which is considered too hard, and the
Senator intends to build a training
track on his Vina ranch. Negotia
tions are now in progress for the pur
chase Of the Copeland estate, which
adjoins Stanford on the west, next tc